On Monday, the threatening clouds of civil war still hung over Thailand's capital Bangkok. In the district around Government House along Phitsanulok Street, tensions were running very high. After heavy street rioting here on Monday a small group of angry "red shirts" had gathered here, supporters of Thaksin Shinawatra, the prime minister ousted in a military coup in September 2006.

The army had surrounded the protestors and all access roads were blocked off with barriers and barbed wire. The soldiers wore bullet-proof vests and had automatic rifles at the ready. Since Monday Bangkok has been in a state of emergency which still applies even though the demonstrators have given up. Under the emergency law, gatherings of more than five people are prohibited.

But the exhausted red shirts remain determined to carry on the fight. "We'll only withdraw when Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva has resigned," said their spokesman Atuporn Prompan, 43. He had exhorted the masses to keep going in recent days. "This is about the future of democracy in Thailand," said a journalist from a radio station that has been critical of the government.

But on Tuesday morning, after the soldiers had drawn their cordon around the red shirts ever closer, the demonstrators gave up.

At this point temperatures had climbed to a sweltering 37 degrees Celsius (98.6 degrees Fahrenheit). Thailand is at its hottest at this time of the year. The country is also celebrating "Songkran," the Buddhist New Year, also known as the "water festival" because people crowd the streets to spray water at each other. It's the country's most important holiday and Thais prefer to celebrate it at home.

"We Don't Want Any More Bloodshed"

This coincidence had reduced the number of demonstrators to just a few thousand in the final hours of the protest. The knowledge that two people had been killed and at least 113 injured on Monday also weakened the morale of those remaining.

Once the security forces had guaranteed in telephone calls with protest leaders that no more shots would be fired if the demonstrators dispersed peacefully, Veera Musikapong climbed onto a flatbed truck. He was the leader of the remaining 5,000 demonstrators laying siege to the government district.

On Monday night he had still exhorted supporters in a booming voice to "fight to the end," but by Tuesday morning his tone had softened. "I ask all my brothers and sisters to give up and board the buses that have been provided by the police. We don't want anyone else to get hurt and we don't want any more bloodshed," he called to the crowd.

Not all the demonstrators wanted to follow his instructions. At 11 o'clock in the morning a further two city buses went up in flames in front of the advancing military. Thaksin supporters warned the army that they would detonate a bomb hidden in the bus if they came any closer.

That didn't seem to be an empty threat. On Monday, demonstrators had seized an oil tank vehicle and had driven hijacked buses towards security forces through a hail of bullets. The mood was further inflamed by former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra who had sent a video message from his exile in Dubai describing the events in Bangkok as a "revolution" and vowing to return to Thailand to stand by the protestors. But on Tuesday morning, calmer heads prevailed.

"We Will Return"

The demonstrators slowly approached the military blocks behind which most of their leaders were already under arrest. Police took photos of all of them and noted down their passport numbers. A police spokesman had announced that not only the protest leaders would be punished, but also all the demonstrators who could be proven to have committed acts of violence.

The mood was tense on Tuesday, but there was little violence apart from isolated clashes around the camp of the red shirts. Yellow shirts -- supporters of the elites in the military, royal palace and bureaucracy who despise Thaksin and his peasant followers -- had advanced into the tent city together with the soldiers and had threatened any remaining red shirts with iron bars and wooden sticks.

"Look at what has happened to democracy in Thailand," said Sadudee Kwanchai, 26. The manager of an orchid farm had travelled from Chiang Mai, the home town of Thaksin, to Bangkok a few days ago to demonstrate for his return. Like many inhabitants of northern Thailand who had voted for the billionaire businessman in recent elections, he felt that the Bangkok elites and the army had robbed him of his vote. "What kind of democracy useds guns to annul elections just because they don't suit the rich?"

Like many Thaksin supporters who boarded buses on Tuesday morning, Sadudee swore he would return. "After the Songkran festival we will regroup and come back to Bangkok," he said.